Trusting Liam(54)

“Really?” When Brian nodded, I laughed again—but this time there was no humor behind it. “Liam Taylor loves me,” I stated blankly. “I think you might be high, Brian.”

“Not today,” he boasted proudly, and sat back to mess with the ink before he started tattooing again.

I’d been joking, but his response had my forehead pinching. “Liam said you don’t do drugs . . .”

“No, ma’am, not for thirty years. No drinkage or druggage. Not since the night I almost lost my lady love when I was twenty-three. She gave me an ultimatum, and that was it for me. Doesn’t mean I don’t feel like I’m high most days. This job and my life give me all the high I need, dude number one. What else did LC tell you about me?”

“Your hair,” I replied immediately with a smile.

“Dude. The hair is me. I am my hair. I made this hair look cool way before Troy Polamalu started getting paid mad bucks for his.”

“Who?”

“Eh.” Brian leaned back and shrugged. “Football player who jacked my style. Retired when you were just a young’un. So, what else? Did LC tell you how dead sexy I am?”

“Oh yeah,” I mumbled sarcastically. “That was our very first conversation.”

“Damn straight it was. LC knows what’s up.”

I bit back a laugh and let another minute pass before I said, “He told me about his tattoo for Chase, and what you said after you finished it.”

“Was I high?” he asked teasingly, but the humor quickly died and he stopped tattooing and sat back. After a few beats of silence, I turned my head to find him staring at me with a look of shock. “He told you about the initials?”

“And the entire story behind it,” I confirmed with a nod.

“No shit?”

“No shit.”

“Dude number one, LC doesn’t tell anyone that story.” Brian was silent again for a while, and with a laugh, he shook his head and got ready to keep going. “Christ. I knew my boy was in love with you. But, homie, he is in love with you.”

“You’re wro—”

“No, I’m not,” he said, cutting me off. “You in love with him yet?”

“Again, no, Brian.”

“That’s okay. I’ll ask again when I’m done to see if you’ve realized it yet.”

There was no stopping my smile over the next couple minutes as Brian finished up. Despite how crazy Brian seemed, I could easily understand why Liam and his family liked him so much. His weird personality was addicting.

“Dude number one,” Brian said when he finished. “You in love with my boy yet?”

I laughed in frustration and amusement, and shot him a look. “No, Brian!”

“ ’Kay, ’kay. I’ll check back with you tomorrow.”

“Do it, I can’t wait to give you the same answer.”

“Uh-huh. We’ll see.”

I rolled my eyes, but didn’t say anything else regarding the topic as he got me ready to go, and Kira and I paid.

“Come back to me, dudes!” he called out when we reached the door to leave, and pointed at me. “Tell my boy to come feed me!”

“Will do! Thanks again!”

“Strange one,” Kira said as we walked back to the car, and I nodded in agreement.

“Strange but fun.” I grabbed my phone to see the time. “Let’s make a coffee run and then get home. Liam will be over in an hour.”

Kira stopped walking and pointed back to the shop. “Oh, don’t you mean the love of your life?” she teased.

“Shut up,” I grumbled, and pushed her away.

WITH A QUICK knock, the front door opened and Liam came walking in half an hour after we’d gotten home. “You really need to lock your door,” he murmured, then pressed a quick kiss to my neck.

“We do lock the door, I just unlocked it about five minutes ago because I knew you’d be here soon.”

“Doesn’t matter,” he said, and Kira nodded and pointed at him as she finished off her coffee.

“I agree,” she said, and dropped the empty cup on the table. “With our family, leaving the door unlocked for anything is probably a big no-no. Can you imagine how Dad would react if he showed up and found it open?”

“Exactly,” Liam continued. “A detective’s daughter should know better.”

I glanced at Kira and pursed my lips. I knew she was talking about the Juarez threats, which had only continued and multiplied as a few of the members of the crew had been released from prison, but Liam didn’t know a thing about it, nor did I want him to know.

I didn’t feel the need to worry him about threats that I doubted would find their way to California, and knew telling him would only cause him to become overly protective. Kira and I already had that with Dad and Uncle Mason, and now we hadn’t seen them or Mom for almost half a year because of their paranoia.